Dark Side
by SpiderNerd
Summary: Peter Parker's world is turned upside down when an asteroid crashes in the middle of Central Park. Set after "The Amazing Spider-Man".
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi, everyone. **** This is your friendly neighborhood SpiderNerd returning for another story. First and foremost, if you haven't read my previous stories, I'd highly recommend you do so before reading this. I make several references to them in this one. Anyway, I really tried to go back to basics with this one, seeing as I felt the flaws in the last story were due to me getting away from my core. So anyway, this story takes place in the same continuity as the others. I hope you enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer: I do now own any of the characters presented in this story. All rights belong to Sony and Marvel.**

_Midtown Science High School: Room 703_

* * *

"Alright now, who can tell me give me the simplified version of the square root of 8," Mr. Laverde asks.

The minute he asks the question, I know the answer. It's like basics to me. As such, I raise my hand and wait for him to call on me.

"Yes, Mr. Parker," he says.

"2 radical 2," I reply.

"Excellent work," he says, "If I had an ice cold Mt. Dew in my fridge back there, I'd give it to you in a heartbeat."

That's the seventh question I've answered correctly today. Why is that; because I've actually been able to show up to class lately! It's amazing what showing up can do to your GPA.

"Now," Mr. Laverde says breaking me from my thoughts, "I'm going to be handing your tests from last week back to you. Overall, the scores were pretty good, but we had one outstanding perfect paper in the room."

Mr. Laverde starts to hand the tests back, and I can't help but get the feeling that I'm the one who got that perfect paper. I studied my butt off for this exam, and I really felt that I had done a good job once I had finished. So, I'm feeling pretty confident about this.

Mr. Laverde walks up to me and prepares to hand me my test back, but before he does so, he begins to speak.

"I'd like to publicly commend Mr. Parker here for getting the one perfect paper in the room," he says and hands me my test back. I look at the score and see that it is truly an A+. At this moment, I couldn't be more proud of myself.

"Nice job, Peter," he whispers into my ear, and I feel even better than I did before.

I look at the test with amazed eyes, and I just can't contain my pride about the matter. This is the first test I've gotten a 100% on all semester, and this is a big accomplishment for me. I mean, I used to get 100%s on papers all the time, but ever since I became Spider-Man, my grades have been slipping. I haven't been doing quite as well in school as I used to, and it's shown. So, with this 100%, it finally feels like things are slipping my way for a change.

Suddenly, I hear a noise out of my right ear, and realize that it's the dismissal bell. Class is over.

As such, I pick up my books, load them into my backpack, and leave the classroom. As I enter the hallway, I still feel ecstatic about my test score. I think about what Aunt May is going to say when I show her, or what Gwen is going to say. They're both going to be so proud of me.

As I think of Gwen, I think of what has happened between us ever since her father died. Her doubting of my life as Spider-Man, our break-up, then us getting back together and loving each other all over again. It's for sure been a wild ride, but I'm just glad that things are back to normal now. She and I are finally all good with each other at last, and we're more in love than ever. She and I actually have a date planned for tomorrow night, and it's our fifth one since our rekindling. Some people may not think that's very many, but that is actually a lot for a guy who leads a double life. With everything I do as Spider-Man, I don't have a lot of time to go out dating, but I'm always willing to compromise with Gwen, and she's willing to do the same with me. That's what relationships are all about, right? I don't know.

I walk down the hallway, bookbag over my shoulder and see Flash Thompson walking down the hallway towards me.

"Hey, Parker," he says raising his hand in a high-five position, obviously desiring me to smack it. I comply, and we smack our hands together.

"Hey, how's it going," I ask.

"Good, man" he says, "I heard you got the highest grade on the AP Calc test."

"Yeah, I did," I say.

"Great man, Congrats!"

"Oh, thanks," I say in response.

Just then, I notice what shirt Flash is wearing. He is wearing that one Spider-Man shirt that I first saw him wear a few months ago after I defeated the Lizard. I had completely forgotten that he even had it in the first place.

"Hey uh, I like your shirt," I say kindly.

"Oh thanks. Yeah, dude's awesome, isn't he?"

"Yeah, yeah he is."

"You got one of these?"

"No," I say.

"Well, this guy on the street sells them for $20 each. You should get one."

"I will," I say.

Just then, the bell rings to signal the start of the next class period. That means I'm late.

"Oh shit, man," Flash says, "Looks like we're both late to class. See ya, Parker."

"See ya," I say, and Flash proceeds to walk off.

Seeing Flash in his Spider-Man shirt reminds me of how easy my life as Spidey has been lately. Ever since I defeated the Scorpion last month, there haven't been any big supervillains running amuck in the city, which is good. Not only is the city safer, but I actually don't have to worry too much about my life as Spider-Man. I mean, I still go on patrol every night, but I'm not constantly worrying about someone like the Shocker or the Lizard or even the Scorpion. That takes a lot of weight off of my shoulders.

I walk into my AP History classroom with a smile on my face, even though I'm late. I take my seat, next to Gwen might I say, very quietly, but my teacher notices my tardiness and calls me out on it.

"Mr. Parker," he says, "Is there a reason for tardiness?"

"No sir," I say.

"Then why are you tardy?"

"I'm sorry sir," I say, "I have no excuse."

"I can tell."

With that, my teacher turns around, faces the white-board, and begins to write something on it. After doing so, he begins to lecture us on the assassination of JFK. What's weird about it is that I actually manage to pay attention, unlike most other times when I would either fall asleep or drift off into my own little world, one which usually involved a certain costumed vigilante.

Not this time. This time, I actually manage to focus on the lecture, and I actually learn something new.

Before I know it, class is over and it's time to go home. As I walk out the front door of the school, a thought hits me.

_Yep_, I think to myself, _Life is good_.

* * *

_Central Park, that night…_

Mr. Warren, an AP Bio teacher at Midtown Science High School, is out on a little nature walk. He loves to go out during the night and take in the fresh air. He loves the way the lights illuminate the trees in the park, and he loves to watch the raccoons run along the sidewalk. There's nothing that nighttime Central Park offers that he does not appreciate.

This particular walk however, is about to turn a lot of lives upside down, as an asteroid crash lands in the middle of the park. Warren hears the crash and immediately heads over to see what exactly the noise was. When he arrives at the crash-site, he sees a large rock in a crater in the middle of the grass.

Warren, the intrigued scientist he is, is determined to get a sample of the asteroid to study, and as such, he does. He grabs a protective glove out of his backpack, and reaches out to grab a piece of the fallen asteroid.

What he doesn't know however, is that a small black organism has emerged from the asteroid. It crawls along the ground, looking for a place of safety. That's when it notices Warren working a piece of the asteroid into his backpack. The organism proceeds to crawl up onto Warren's shoe without him knowing it, and when Warren begins to walk, it shoots out a strand of itself and attaches itself to Warren's backpack. It slides in through a small break in the fabric and attaches itself to the piece of asteroid that Warren collected, wrapping itself around it as though it were a black coating.

Warren proceeds to walk home, unaware of what he's carrying in his backpack, and unaware of what is to come.

…

* * *

**A/N: Well, that's Chapter 1 guys. I hope you enjoyed it. I know not a lot really happened in it, but it was mainly meant to be a set-up chapter. I'm really trying to set-up exactly what the circumstances of this story are. Next chapter will have more happen, I promise. **

**Please don't forget to leave your reviews! Positive or negative, all feedback is welcome. You won't hurt my feelings either way. Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who read the first chapter. I know it probably wasn't what you all expected out of me, but I hope to really impress you all with the next couple of chapters. Enjoy reading **

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters present in this story. All rights belong to Sony and Marvel.**

* * *

_Manhattan, NYC_: Spider_-Man swings through the city_.

I swing through the city, firing web-line after web-line at building after building, and let me tell you, it never gets old. I will always love the exhilaration I get from webswinging. The wind on my body, the strain on my muscles. Most people wouldn't enjoy stuff like that, but for me, it's addicting. It's like an addictive substance for me, only I know that webswinging will never kill me. Well, as long as I do it right.

I fire another web-line at a stray building in the street and swing through the city, feeling that exhilaration that I talked about before. I soon find myself in the middle of Times Square, where I see the bright lights of NYC like never before. There's no more vibrant place in NYC than Times Square, and right now, I'm in awe of the beauty.

I perch myself on a lamppost in the middle of the square, and I look around at all of the electronic billboards. There's an advertisement for Burger King on one and an advertisement for McDonalds on another.

_Heh_, I think to myself, _silly_ _people who eat fast food_. I mean sure, I've eaten fast-food in the past, but I've always felt sick afterwards. I've never understood those people who live on it.

Anyway, I look over and see that there's an advertisement for the Daily Bugle on the main billboard. It shows a picture of the president of the newspaper, J. Jonah Jameson. He's also the guy who runs J3 Communications, but that serves as more of a subjective media source, while the Daily Bugle is more objective. At least, I've always found.

I continue to admire the rest of Times Square when I suddenly hear a loud bang coming from the street. I look over, and to my surprise, I see a man with a gun in his hand, holding it at a man who is slowly falling to the ground. The man hits the ground, and the second he does, I instantly realize what has happened.

The man with a gun shot him.

At that precise moment, I jump off of the lamppost I'm perched on, and swing down towards the gunman. Before I can reach him however, he turns around and sees me, proceeding to fire at me as he does so. Luckily for me, my spider-speed helps me dodge the bullet, preventing injury.

"I think you missed," I retort sarcastically.

I fire two web-lines on both sides of the gunman and propel myself in his direction. I spring my legs out in front of me and prepare to kick the gunman in the stomach. Unfortunately though, he manages to jump out of the way before I can reach him, and I end up kicking the car behind him.

Once I land on the ground, I fire two web-balls at him, which proceed to hit him in the stomach. While he's disoriented, I run up to him and punch square in the jaw and in the nose. He falls to the ground and blood starts pooling out of his nose. I walk towards the guy, and he begins to speak.

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, Spider-Man," he says.

"Unless you're Charlie Sheen, I'm not scared," I retort back.

After I am finished with my witty quip, I proceed to web his hands to the ground, preventing him from reaching the gun that I knocked out of his hand during our fight. At the same time, the police arrive on the scene and exit their vehicles. They walk over to us and proceed to arrest the gunman quickly. One of the officers walks over to me and begins to speak.

"Thanks for helping Spider-Man," she says.

"It was just luck that I happened to be here," I say.

As I speak, I take a good look at the officer speaking to me. She looks familiar, as if I know her from somewhere, but I can't place my finger on exactly where.

"Maybe," she replies, "but either way, you did well tonight."

"Thanks," I say.

As the officer walks away, I begin to recognize her finally. It is Sgt. DeWolff, one of the officers who helped me take down the Shocker a few months ago. She and Capt. Carter really helped a lot with that whole debacle, and I probably wouldn't have defeated the Shocker without them.

Eventually, the officers drive away, with the gunman in the back of Sgt. DeWolff's vehicle. I, on the other hand, decide to swing home, as I have plans to have to dinner with Aunt May tonight. As such, I fire a web-line at a nearby building and prepare to swing away. However, just as I am about to jump, I hear something that sounds a lot like another gunshot.

_How is that possible_, I think to myself, _the gunman is in the back of Sgt. DeWolff's car?_

Whatever was shot manages to go right through my web-line, severing it instantly. I quickly look around for any sign of danger, when all of a sudden; I get a tingling in the back of my skull, my spider-sense. It makes me aware of a source of danger behind me, and as such, I quickly get out of the way. It's just as well that I did, as right that moment, another shot is fired.

I look back behind me and see that there is a man in the shadows with a large shotgun. I quickly fire web-pellets at him, which manage to nail him in the face and arm. After I do this, I fire a web-line at a nearby building and swing over towards him. To my surprise however, he doesn't fire at me again. Instead, he falls back into the alleyway behind him. He quickly disappears into the darkness of the alleyway, and I lose sight of him.

I swing into the alleyway, but find nothing. There is absolutely no sign of anyone within the whole alleyway.

_That's weird_, I think to myself, _he was just here_.

That's when I get the idea that maybe he managed to climb up to a roof. As such, I fire two web-lines at the walls next to me and propel myself upwards. However, once I get up to the roof, I find absolutely nothing. No sign of anyone.

After examining the rooftops, I decide that I've finally lost the guy. I don't know who he was, but I do know what he wanted. He clearly wanted to kill me, and I'm going to find out why. That is, after I have dinner with Aunt May.

Finally deciding to swing home, I fire a web-line at a nearby building, get a running start, and swing away towards Queens. After about 20 minutes, I manage to reach the alleyway where I had stashed my backpack with my civilian clothes inside. I swing down to the ground and quickly find my backpack. It takes me all of about a minute to re-dress into my civilian clothes, and after making sure no one can see me, I walk out of the alleyway.

The walk home takes about 10 minutes, as the alleyway is 2 blocks away from my home. During that time, I pop in my earphones and jam to some tunes. After completing the walk, I reach the front door and open it quickly. I walk into the house and am immediately greeted by my Aunt.

"Hi, Peter," she says, "How was school?" She and I haven't seen each other since before I left for school this morning.

"Good," I say. As I say this, I am thinking about what she will say when I tell her that I got a 100% on my Calc exam.

"Would you come over and help me crack these eggs? Dinner's almost ready."

"Yeah, sure," I say as I walk over to where the eggs are placed on the counter. I proceed to pick one up, bang it on a bowl, and crack it. After repeating that process for the next two eggs, I take the bowl with the egg yolks inside over to Aunt May.

"How's Gwen," Aunt May suddenly asks me.

"Oh uh, good," I say, "She and I have a date tomorrow night."

"Oh, do you?"

"Yep."

"That sounds like fun, if you know what I mean," Aunt May says as she winks at me.

"Oh my gosh, Aunt May, please. Don't say that."

"Haha, I'm just messing with you," she says as the oven beeps.

"Oh, the meat-loaf's done," she says.

After she says this, she opens the oven door and removes the meat-loaf, proceeding to place it on the counter. After she slices and prepares it thoroughly, we sit down and have our nice dinner together.

"So, Aunt May, I have something to tell you," I say.

"Oh," she says, "Like what?"

"I got a 100% on my Calc exam," I say and her eyes instantly widen.

"Oh my gosh, hon. Congratulations," she says excitedly, "I'm so proud of you."

"Heh. Thanks."

"You know, if this wasn't a sign, then I don't know what is."

After she says this, I am instantly confused as to what she means. As such, I decide to ask for clarification.

"What," I ask.

"I think this might be a signal, hon," she replies.

"A signal of what?"

"That things are finally getting back to normal. I mean, ever since your Uncle died, let's face it; we've been pretending like nothing's changed, but really, our lives have been drastically different. I've been doing my best to keep the house in order and everything, and you've been doing your best, but we both know that we haven't been giving 100%. I mean, it was just a couple of months ago that I was in the hospital while you were all depressed. I remember you came home with a black eye and blood on your shirt, and it scared the crap out of me. I remember how you were hesitant to get out of bed every morning, and how your grades were slipping because you just didn't want to be at school. That wasn't like you at all."

"Yeah…yeah, it wasn't."

"Now, with this recent test grade, and your overall grades in general, I can see that at least you're slowly starting to transition back to who you were before. You don't come home every night all battered and bruised. You come home fresh and clean. You're actually managing your schoolwork again, which is good since graduation is coming up soon. You want to keep your spot as 2nd in the class."

"I know," I simply say.

"Plus, this great mood you've been in lately. I mean, for the past two weeks really it's been noticeable. I'm happy that you're finally able to smile again."

"Yeah, me too."

After I say this, Aunt May decides to take a break from speaking and take a bite of her food. I do the same, and while doing so, I think of all the points that she made during her little speech. Most notably, the fact that she notices my improved mood. That is something that I'm really happy about. I don't want her worrying about me anymore than she needs to. Especially after that little stint in the hospital during the Shocker debacle, we can't afford to have anything bad happen to her.

"You know," I begin to say, "I'm glad that you're able to smile again too."

"Thank you, dear," she says.

"I remember the week Uncle Ben died, and all you did was sleep on the couch. You couldn't even get up and move you were so upset. Now…now you're okay. I mean, we'll always love and remember him, but we're starting to establish a new normal."

"Exactly, hon."

At that moment, I reach over and grab my Aunt's hand, proceeding to squeeze it as I say my next sentence.

"I love you, Aunt May."

"I love you too, Peter."

After this, I reach over the table and give my Aunt a nice hug. When I said that I love her, I meant it. I really do love my Aunt with all of my heart, and I'll do anything to protect her.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

In a warehouse on the Lower East side of NYC, lies a man with a mission. He is the same man who shot at Spider-Man earlier, only this one managed to get away.

"He's proven it to me," he says aloud, "He's proven to me that he is a worthy foe and hunt, and he has proven that he is the perfect quarry for me to go after."

The man walks over to his wall and grabs a shot-gun off of a holster. He then aims it at a picture of Spider-Man's head and fires, putting a bullet hole through the right eye.

"Yes, it is time for me to hunt the Spider-Man," he says.

What is this man's name? Well, his real name is Sergei Kravinoff. However, he prefers a more appropriate title.

Kraven the Hunter

…

* * *

**A/N: I hope that this chapter was better than the last one for you guys. I know it was longer, and I tried to add more dialogue. While again, this was largely a set-up chapter, it was necessary for me to write, and I had a heck of a lot of fun doing so. I hope you enjoyed reading it! **

**Please don't forget to leave a review. Positive or negative, all feedback is welcome. Thanks!**


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